EASTPORT – Teresa Elizabeth Sears raised her right hand Thursday and did something no one has done in Washington County for at least 40 years.

Sears, 25, of Robbinston was sworn into the Maine State Bar and became a practicing lawyer in Maine.

She began working this summer as a paralegal for Fletcher and Mahar, a law firm in Calais, and will stay on as a lawyer.

Sears said she would begin taking appointments in criminal and child protective cases immediately, but plans to focus on family and bankruptcy law.

Lawyers from northern and eastern Maine usually must travel to Bangor to be sworn in by a member of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. The most recent batch of lawyers to pass the bar exam are scheduled to be sworn in today at Penobscot County Superior Court in Bangor.

Two things made it possible for Sears to take the oath closer to home – the supreme court convened at Shead High School in Eastport on Thursday as part of its annual fall tour of Maine high schools, and one of the cases it had planned to hear arguments on had to be rescheduled.

A native of Aneta, N.D., Sears graduated in May from the University of North Dakota School of Law in Grand Forks, N.D. She moved to Robbinston last summer to live with her boyfriend, who teaches at Washington County Community College.

“He always said he wanted to move to Alaska or Maine,” she said after the short swearing-in. “It just worked out here.”

Lawyer Dennis Mahar, 47, of Calais said that he and his partner David Fletcher, 62, of Calais both had to travel to Bangor to be sworn in.

“David’s been a member of the Washington County Bar [Association] for 39 years,” Mahar said, “and he can’t remember anyone who was sworn in here.”

Mahar, who is running for the Legislature, said that he and Fletcher needed a third lawyer in their office.

Even though Sears has no Maine roots, Mahar said, she was the right person to join the firm.

“Her desire to be here and her love of the area” are some of the reasons Mahar believes Sears will be successful.

Sears also did something no one had ever done before – she took the oath in the Shead High School gym.

Paul Theriault, principal of Shead High School, said it was important for students to see the result of a young person’s hard work and aspirations that the ceremony symbolized.

Sears’ addition to Washington County Bar brings the number of members to about 30, according to Mahar.

jharrison@bangordailynews.net

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